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I’ve made it through the second year! Granted, it was more quiet and with less routine, but I stuck with it. This past year also happened to be my last two semesters of university and I certainly let that get to me. Although my weekly posting schedule gradually turned into a monthly one, I kept creating things:

[Self] Sunday Sounds: “Constants”
As if the lyrics don’t give it away, this song was all about getting out of my own comfort zone. It was the fourth song I’ve shared and it was one of the quickest (i.e. easiest) to write.

Black, white, and basics. New layout!
This is the announcement of the design you see now, one that I’ve designed [mostly] from scratch. The previous layouts had been modifications of the WordPress Twenty Eleven layout, so I’m very proud having coded this.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!*
For Christmas, I covered my favorite song for the holiday, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”

Crafty Christmas 2012
Made jewelry for the first time, not likely to be the last. My friend, whom I made them for, said that the astrological one was her lucky necklace! :’)

With the second year behind me, I’ve been making some changes to prepare for the road ahead. I’ve updated my “about” page with much more about myself as well as the blog itself. If you’ve ever wondered where the name comes from, read up! There’s also a list of a few “trivial” (you be the judge!) personality identifiers, such as Myers-Briggs type, Hogwarts house, and Western and Chinese astrological signs. Wherever you stand on those different typologies, they’re at least a little fun, right?

As you may have noticed, I’ve taken some time off; I’ve been wondering and doubting- as I’m wont to do- about what I’ve been doing with my digital space. Questions like, “What do I have to say or offer?”, “What am I saying?”, “What voice have I been conveying?”, and “Why can’t I ever take a picture the way I imagine it in my head?! *rageface*” have been swirling around my head; alas, even with all that time away, I don’t think I’m much closer to an answer than I was before. However, what was clear, was the fact that I needed to do something, even if that meant doing anything.

So naturally, like the need for a new haircut or outfit, I went to working on a new layout. Although I didn’t intend that this happen, this version, with it’s excessive black and white, addresses my need for a clean slate.

While there are a few coding issues that need to be fixed, I’m proud to say that this new layout is the first where I’ve really coded it all by my lonesome! No heavily-modified-TwentyEleven here!

I hope all of my festive fellow Americans had a fun and safe fourth of July!

Well, as you can tell from the title, it’s Glass Lens, Gold Key‘s first birthday! I cannot believe that it’s been a year since I started this. For all intents and purposes, I really did make this on a whim; it was barely two months from the time I decided to return to writing on a non-community blog (in May) to when I got the first post up. There were many muddled and anxious thoughts before, after, and during that time; while there was much excitement, there was also a lot of doubt.

There was a specific way that I wanted to proceed, a way that required a bit of money and a hell of a lot of time. Because this wasn’t my first time blogging– I used to code layouts in notepad using copious amounts (okay, maybe “unnecessary” is a better term?) of tables and/or frames, and type posts up and upload via FTP before there was an easy-to-use CMS– I knew what I wanted and was impatient to go slowly. But I was wary of my own intentions and determination. I didn’t want it to waste away, as my site had before, and I was also worried that I simply didn’t have anything interesting to write about. However, the latter is only true if one isn’t honest or enthusiastic, and I knew that I absolutely missed creating, designing, and sharing my own perspective. So nostalgia won out, but not without genuine excitement, and I went about it the way I had before.

I’m so thankful that I did. I feel better having written, designed, and created something that I can share with others.

In the past year of working on Glass Lens, Gold Key I’ve learned quite a bit; on both technical and personal terms.

In terms of design, I’ve still got a lot to learn, as well as re-learn. I’m currently using a heavily modified version of a theme, but the CSS isn’t as daunting as it was before. In the past year, I’ve cycled through the following layouts:

Glass Lens, Gold Key 1.0. Text heavy!

2.0 A circle! Getting there.

Version 3.5- Now with pictures! Finally.

As I mentioned earlier, I basically began when the thought hit me and thus spent no time considering the layout, or photographing the material that I wanted to represent the ethos of this blog. What’s funny about this is that it was completely antithetical to my previous method of making a layout first and getting to really flesh out the content later (although seeing the mockup of a “finished product” does help!). There’s so much more that I want to do, but building it up gradually doesn’t bother as much as it used to (of course, this is only the case for my work; if it were for someone else, it wouldn’t be as piecemeal).

I’ve also become a better writer, in the sense that I’ve become more comfortable with “publishing” it– allowing others to read my words. Or rather, I suppose I should say that I’m getting better with writing; I’m slowly getting through the self-deprecation that comes from apprehension. I’m an anxious person so my head goes a mile a minute down worrysome paths and perfectionist doubts, but, like the many maxims on regret have urged, it’s been better to do something as best I can rather than allowing an idea to dissipate before I think it’s “ready” or not.

As you can glean from the URL, this blog is part of something I’ve established as Often Lions. Almost a year of having claimed the domain, I’ve finally filled the space with some substance, primarily visual.

So what is it, or more appropriately, what will it be, exactly? Well, it’s a surprise. Mostly for you and even somewhat for me; if there’s one thing that I’ve learned, it’s that the most important thing is just to start. Every step counts, every step moves you forward. Stagnation kills creativity.

While its form may appear amorphous right now, the heart of Often Lions is laid bare. Its mission statement/ethos/philosophy or what-have-you is as follows:

For those of us who lie awake at night dreaming of fantastical places and the royals and the rogues. Hostile seas and cunning thieves. Bards who sing the sighs of the bright-eyed. Leather and lace, yet binary ways. Time traveling and the unraveling towards the truth.

Love & laugh– that’s the only catch.

As for the dialogue from Romeo & Juliet on the front page, as the first post?